<p>Our college budget was centered around instate public u’s. It was what we could afford and still be able to retire before age 75! DH was adamantly opposed to educational loans of any kind for our sons. The goal was for both to graduate debt free which was easily done at any of our big state u’s. S1 ended up with a full scholarship at his chosen state u. S2 was full pay at another big instate public but we were prepared for that. So I guess I would say that a full scholarship would trump full pay+loans. It wasn’t a big issue for us because our kids grew up wanting to attend our big state u’s.</p>
<p>Take the money! Do not waste your time on reputation. After 35 years in engineering and business, I am not impressed by the name of your college. Furthermore, all the LACs claim 80% acceptance at medical schools. There in one exception. Those who think they are Wall Street-bound need to be very choosy.</p>
<p>When my daughter talked about Oberlin to her classmates their response was “Where is that?” or “Is that the school known for music?” But they had heard of Brandeis. I am so glad she got merit from Oberlin especially since that clinched the decision for us. Btw we live outside of Chicago which is closer to Oberlin. </p>
<p>I have to say it is so refreshing when you are talking to someone who really knows Oberlin and their eyes get wide and they get all excited. </p>
<p>“I think 27k is too much for a student, particularly one who will graduate without a defined skill set (e.g. business or English as opposed to nursing or engineering). I wouldn’t want to foist that amount of undergraduate debt on my child if I could avoid it. I would put 20k as the tippy top amount I’d put on my child.”</p>
<p>I agree. Many majors don’t lead to highish paying jobs upon graduation so even paying a $250 a month can be difficult if the new-hire is also paying rent, utilities, car, food, insurance, gas, etc.</p>
<p>And I agree with HiMom…even if a student says that he’s going to pursue a high paid career, so many kids ed up changing their majors and don’t end up in those high paid careers. I always cringe when I hear kids (and parents) say that it’s ok to borrow a lot because the career goal is eng’g or med school. Both of those academic paths have “weeder classes” and often far less than half of the students stay on those career paths. </p>
<p>I had a high stats kid 1560/1600 with decent ECs who really didn’t show much interest in where he was applying. He wanted physics. I looked for a variety of colleges in the top 50 rated colleges. He knew he wanted grad school and Phd program at that point.</p>
<p>Choices were Cornell at full pay, Swarthmore and Duke at half tuition, Case Western and RPI about full tuition scholarships, and a full ride with many perks at Penn State Schreyers honors as his safety.</p>
<p>He chose Penn State with all their awesome perks, graduated with a bachelors degree in electrical engineering and a bachelors degree in physics, was in research groups with graduate students since he was a freshman, did two summer RUE’s, published research, and had a summer Internship at a large aerospace company. </p>
<p>He had a fun EC in college that took him all over the US which was also paid for by the school.</p>
<p>Applied and accepted to top ten phd programs which is not easy and chose UCSB over Yale and UT Austin among others.</p>
<p>In other words he was a top student, worked hard, took advantage of his opportunities and did great while not paying one dime for his education. </p>
<p>His interests took him away from grad school and he’s now working for the aerospace company who is paying for his masters in his new interest area.</p>
<p>My 401k is intact. We had unexpected medical bills during this time and a kid we unexpectedly needed to pay COBRA insurance for. Oh yeah…and that entire recession hit in the middle of it all.</p>
<p>How can you beat that? I thank him every chance I get.</p>
<p>Personally, for my family, we would never take our loans to put our kids through college. I’m comfortable with the federal direct loans for the students if that is what it takes to pay the tab. But no, we would not sign on for a undergrad college education if it required parent loans…the kids would take the big scholarships or go to CC for two years if financially necessary. Too much of this college race has a in the minute component to it…the thrill, the excitement, the moment of fame that posting that college acceptance choice - all those things are in the dust by December after high school graduation - call it what you will but families should be focused on the long haul not the current year. </p>
<p>Like others have said… it’ll vary family to family. For us price is a major factor but not necessarily a determining factor. My DD was accepted early to our local state school honors program with free tuition. If she were to live at home, she could get a college degree for the price of books. It’s a great school with a great reputation but we know it’s not a good fit for her. She could make it work but she wouldn’t thrive. We required her to apply as a safety but the chances of her attending just because it’s cheaper are very low. We can’t afford to pay a lot, but we can afford to pay something and we do it gladly for a better fit. That’s not to say we are willing to go into major debt either.</p>
<p>That said, if she were looking at 2 quality “fit” schools and one is lower price (or full-tuition) and the other is not… I could see us really pushing for the cheaper option even if it wasn’t the favorite. </p>
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<p>I’m from the Northeast, and I agree that BC and Brandeis are at about the same level, prestige-wise, nowadays, but Amherst and to a lesser degree Middlebury? No way. Both of those schools would have been huge reaches for the kids at our HS who got into Brandeis. Oberlin has been a well-known and respected school forever, even when <em>I</em> was in HS, in a CT town where many kids went to elite schools. (BC, on the other hand, was just about unknown there at that time, as was Holy Cross.)</p>
<p>Of course, things look different in Massachusetts. 
I think your D made a good choice, GamerGal.</p>
<p>@sax, thanks for providing your experience with details. I am going to show your post to DS who also has high stats. However, at the moment, he seems to be a little consumed by the school rankings.</p>
<p>My D has high stats too, but thankfully she does not have the prestige bug. She will likely go to a school that is the best fit within our budget. So yes, if she was to be admitted to an ivy (not even sure she will apply to any), and it would require her to take out loans, then scholarships will trump that. She just told me this morning how she has had two adults (one a teacher, another a sort of mentor) tell her how lucky she is to have the opportunity to go to college and come out with no debt. I want to kiss them. :)</p>
<p>No loans here. No way would I take out loans at my age. We are far older than most parents of kids the ages of our kids. That would just be financially stupid. High stats kids but no prestige bug here either. They will go where it makes the most sense, where they can get the most money, and graduate within their means.</p>
<p>One is interested in going overseas now more than in the states -despite scholarships- and is finding ways to make that work out to her advantage and within her means. We did have a rental property to sell and that is the limit of our contributions. We don’t want to land on the kids in 10 or 20 years because something happens and we have massive debt that wiped us out. </p>
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<p>When I was graduating from a NYC area public magnet in the mid-'90s, Oberlin ranked slightly higher in prestige overall among peers and parents. However, they were close enough so that if one was interested in Near-East studies or pre-med, Brandeis was regarded as the better school for those fields. </p>
<p>At the time, BC would have been ranked below Brandeis due to peer/parents’ negative perceptions of BC’s big sports/drinking/party campus culture and its weakness in many STEM fields back then. Only students I knew who went were hardcore BC sports fans and/or graduated near the bottom of our graduating class. At the time, if it was Brandeis vs BC, most would have chosen Brandeis. </p>
<p>Incidentally, Holy Cross was perceived as having a more academic/intellectual reputation than BC not only among HS classmates/parents, but also among many Catholic neighbors. It was placed somewhere between BC and Notre Dame/Georgetown. </p>
<p>Agree that Amherst and Middlebury would have been regarded as having more overall prestige. </p>
<p>I think it depends on the individual and the college choice you have. E.g Harvard or full ride at UVA? I will pick UVA. But for Harvard or full ride at Howard, I will go to Harvard. </p>
<p>Of course it will depend on family circumstances. Both my D’s turned down full tuition scholarships to their safety, a highly respected local school. One had a lower amount scholarship to the U she attended, but neither will have to take out any loans. I have a good friend whose kids will attend wherever they get full rides, or close to it, as they can’t afford to pay much. </p>
<p>@4bearsdolls</p>
<p>Both of my kids had high stats and were the Val and Sal of their high school. They both accepted near-full rides for college (cost us VERY little for their undergrad). </p>
<p>Older son got accepted to every PhD program he applied to (all fully funded). Younger son is now in med school (which gave him a half tuition scholarship - a surprise!). After all is said and done, we’ll have paid very little for all of this education. </p>
<p>@mom2collegekids, were your sons choosing between the full-rides at Bama and full-pay everywhere else or were there harder choices, like big merit at a good school they really liked but which would have still cost you a lot of dough each year?</p>
<p>I won’t be making the decision between an Ivy at full freight and a full ride at a fourth tier - my decision will probably be more like a full ride at a second tier versus full freight at a lower end tier one school (BU primarily) - I need to maximize borrowing power for grad school; so I need to keep debt to an absolute minimum. </p>
<p>"@mom2collegekids, were your sons choosing between the full-rides at Bama and full-pay everywhere else or were there harder choices, like big merit at a good school they really liked but which would have still cost you a lot of dough each year?"</p>
<p>They had a mix of offers, but all were merit based because we don’t qualify for aid at any school. Bama wasn’t a full-ride…it was a near-full-ride. My kids’ offers ranged from half-tuition, to full tuition, to near-full rides, to full rides (larger offers than Bama’s). The older son chose Bama because he got into the CBHP program there. We didn’t make him choose Bama, and it wasn’t the cheapest choice. When younger son was a soph in high school, he loudly declared that he “wasn’t going to go to the same college as his brother.” And, we were fine with that. But, after he toured and helped his brother with Move-In, he declared that Bama was the only school he wanted to apply to. We still made him apply to about 6 schools…just in case he changed his mind. They both have very fond memories of their undergrad years.</p>
<p>Obviously, it depends. How close are the offers? How wealthy is the family? But, for most of the families facing college bills, I’d have to say yes. Full ride (even full tuition) is a no-brainer.</p>
<p>Not all of us feel that way. Son had full ride to various schools in our state, but as future CS person, Had to chose between the top CS schools in country. Not one state school could compare to the tech schools (including CMU’s CS school). Perhaps because I have one child, I did what I could to send him to college of his choice. He worked hard, and won upperclass merit award (1/2 tuition). He also got jobs starting freshman year, and every summer (earned $11,000). So, I continue to work full-time, and son strives; getting outside scholarships for grad school, good paying internships. He would not be where he is today without the opportunities.</p>